Disposition introduced in sports ball

ABSTRACT

The present invention refers to sport balls, such as soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs and others, provided with an external pattern applied all over their outer surface, being said pattern composed by plurality of cavities equally spaced apart and of identical dimensions, with the purpose of improving the aerodynamic characteristics of the ball along it&#39;s trajectory, with no deviations, leading to great precision of its movement.  
     The ball is provided with an outer surface ( 1 ) comprising circular cavities or depressions ( 2 ), equally spaced apart and uniformly distributed along the outer surface ( 1 ) of said ball. Adjacent to said cavities ( 2 ) are defined protruding areas ( 3 ), of convex surface and which, along with said cavities or depressions ( 2 ), define the outer surface ( 1 ) of the sports ball.

[0001] The present invention refers to sport balls, such as those foruse in soccer, basketball, volleyball and others, which may be sewn,vulcanized or processed by matrix, featuring an external pattern appliedto its entire outer surface, being said pattern made up of a pluralityof equally spaced apart cavities with identical dimensions, with thepurpose of improving the aerodynamic characteristics of the ball alongits trajectory, with no deviation, imparting great precision to it'smovement.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

[0002] The current state of the art includes several spot ballsfeaturing protrusions or cavities over its surface, specially those thatrequire improved performance regarding grip precision upon handling bythe sport player, such as basketballs, footballs, baseballs and others.

[0003] Basketballs, for instance, usually feature several protrusions orcrests spread over its outer surface, which purpose is to enhancefriction between the ball and the player's hand. Other basketballsfeature cavities or recesses in their outer surface, with the purpose ofimproving the grip of spherical balls and consequently enhance precisionupon the launching of said balls.

[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 6,261,197, by Grechko, discloses a ball with aplurality of cavities positioned over part of its outer surface, withthe purpose of allowing its curved launching. One example of suchapplication is a baseball.

[0005] The main purposes of the cavities applied on the balls disclosedby said patents is to enhance the ball's friction and grip upon contactwith the player's hands (firmness), such as for example in basketballs,or allow their launching into a curved trajectory, such as for examplein baseballs. Therefore, the above indicated patents aim for solutionswhich enhance precision in the contact between the ball and the player'shands, and also changing the ball's trajectory, such as in baseball.None of these patents presents a convenient solution for one of thedrawbacks of the present state of the art regarding the precision andstability of the ball's trajectory, for instance when there are externalinterference with its movement, such as wind action, among others.

[0006] Other patterns applicable to sport balls which are largelywidespread regard those used in golf balls. Golf balls employ severalcavity configurations applied over the ball's outer surface, for thepurpose of enhancing it's range when compared to that of a smoothsurface ball, or even offer more or less control to the athlete duringthe launching. Therefore several cavities are usually employed,practically tangent to each other and positioned in groups of cavitiesinserted in imaginary, polygonal areas over the ball's surface.

[0007] The main purpose of said configurations is to reduce the ball'sdrag along its trajectory, which makes possible, for instance, a longerrange of shooting. However, larger dimension balls, such as for exampleinflatable soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, among others, presenta much less stable behavior along its path in the air, even because saidballs feature a much lower density if compared to solid balls such asgolf balls. Thus, one of the main problems presently encountered regardsthe possible deviations in trajectory which occur by action of externalelements, such as wind action or even the ball's imprecision andflotability, thwarting a straight trajectory, being that shooting rangenot the main characteristic to be improved upon.

[0008] Therefore, the main performance characteristics in inflatablesport balls such as it's stability, trajectory precision and lowerflotability with the smallest possible deviation have not yet beensignificantly improved.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The main object of the present invention is to provide a sportsball, with high performance and quality, featuring cavities all over itsouter surface, which improve the ball's aerodynamic characteristicsalong it's trajectory, with no deviations due to wind action, reducingthe air friction over the ball, leading to great precision in itsmovement, with higher stability and less flotability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The present invention will be described in more detail based onan execution example which is depicted in the Figures, in which:

[0011]FIG. 1 is a front view of a sports ball, for instance a soccerball, provided with cavities uniformly distributed along its outersurface, example of execution of the present invention;

[0012]FIG. 2 is a detail of a partial cross section, based on the detailA of FIG. 1, illustrating the cavities of the present invention;

[0013]FIG. 3 is a front view of another sports ball with the cavities onits surface, another execution example of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND THE ANNEXED FIGURES

[0014] Making now reference to the annexed Figures, on FIGS. 1 and 3 areexecution examples of the present invention, where the sports ball isprovided with an inflatable body (hollow), with a convex outer surface(1), usually made of synthetic material, rubber or leather and which canbe formed respectively by means of sewing, vulcanization or elseprocessing by matrix.

[0015] Over said outer surface (1) are provided cavities or depressions(2), equally spaced apart, of identical dimensions and uniformlydistributed along the convex outer surface (1) of said ball.

[0016] The region adjacent to said cavities (2) comprises protrudingareas (3), of smooth, convex surface and which, along with said cavitiesor depressions (2) define an outer surface (1) of the sports ball. Saidprotruding areas (3) are more clearly visualized in FIG. 2.

[0017] The spacing (e) existing between two adjacent cavities (2)defines the existence of said protruding areas (3), being said spacing(e) not substantially smaller than the external opening (d) of thecavities (2) itself, being also possibly bigger than the externalopening (d) of said cavities (2). Therefore it is possible to obtain apattern over its outer surface (1) with a higher or lower number ofcavities (2) per area unit. Said more or less spaced-apartconfigurations may vary according to the kind of sport for which theball is designed, resulting in an aerodynamic performance which isoptimized for each application.

[0018] The pattern defined by the set of cavities (2) results from thealignment between lines of cavities positioned parallel to each other orfrom the staggering of lines which are parallel and interspersed witheach other.

[0019] The opening (d) of the cavities (2) varies according to the kindof sports ball, as well as the quantity of cavities (2) per area unit,as well as the disposition of said cavities over the ball's surface (1).This way, a soccer ball may feature a distribution of cavities over itssurface, whereas a basketball or volleyball may feature another one,which affords a better performance for each kind of sport.

[0020] On practical tests performed with conventional sport balls withsmooth outer surface and balls provided with cavities according to thepresent invention, the aerodynamic response of the ball with cavitiesproved to be way better, regarding the steadiness of trajectory duringits flight path and regarding the launching precision, based on alongitudinal axis starting on the ball's launching point.

[0021] Thus, on tests where the same energy was applied to aconventional, smooth ball and to a ball with cavities according to thepresent invention, the latter suffers much less interference of externalactions along it's trajectory, being said trajectory much more straightand with a much smaller deviation from the longitudinal launching axisif compared to a conventional ball.

[0022] Similarly, with launchings to higher altitudes, it was observedalso that, applying the same energy, the ball provided with cavitiesalong its outer surface reaches a higher altitude when compared to aconventional, smooth surface ball. That is due to the fact that the dragof the ball with cavities is reduced, as well as the resistance of theair over said ball, resulting in better performance.

[0023] Therefore, said functional improvement may be applied to any kindof sport balls with a hollow, spherical body, such as those forpracticing soccer, basketball, volleyball, handball, court or societysoccer, among other sports.

What is claimed is:
 1. “DISPOSITION INTRODUCED IN SPORTS BALL”,comprising an inflatable body, provided with an outer surface (1), insynthetic material, rubber or leather, characterized by comprisingcavities or depressions (2), equally spaced apart, of identicaldimensions and uniformly distributed along the outer surface (1) of saidball; the region adjacent to said cavities (2) comprises protrudingareas (3) of smooth, convex surface which, along with said cavities ordepressions (2), define the outer surface (1) of the sports ball; thespacing (e) existing between two adjacent cavities (2) defines theexistence of said protruding areas (3), being said spacing (e) notsubstantially smaller than the outer opening (d) of the cavities (2)themselves, being also possibly bigger than the outer opening (d) ofsaid cavities (2); said opening (d) of the cavities (2) is variable,being a function of the kind of sports ball, as well as the quantity ofcavities (2) per area unit.